Santa's Little Helpers
by The Athena Cabin
Summary: A holiday prank leads to detention for Lily and James, and they don't have to clean trophies or write lines, but instead do something a little unorthodox. Written for Jily Secret Santa 2013.


**A/N: Written for tumrblr user samwinchesters for Jily Secret Santa 2013. I hope you enjoy, and happy holidays!**

* * *

**Santa's Little Helpers**

* * *

What you need isn't always the same as what you want. Likewise, what you want isn't always something that you necessarily _need._

Some stubborn people tend to disagree.

Case and point:

* * *

Being a strong, confident, and capable witch, one who could never be accused of relying on someone else for constant support, Lily Evans did not need a man in her life.

Thus, she decided she did not _want_ one, either.

After all, want and need are the same, right?

Right.

This train of thought might explain why she was daydreaming in the middle of her last Defense Against the Dark Arts class before the winter holidays.

"Miss Evans, I do—I do believe that you are first," Professor Winthrow commented, interrupting her thoughts.

"Wha—oh, yes, of course. Sorry, Professor," a flustered and apologetic Lily stammered as she shook herself out of another daydream and stood up in front of the class. Her task was a relatively easy one: successfully stun the three cardboard targets in front of her. If she hit the red circle at the center every time, full marks, partial for hitting elsewhere, and the requirement to do it again if she missed.

_"Stupefy." _Her aim and spell casting was spot on, as usual. The target didn't stand a chance, as evidenced by the smoking hole right in the center.

Lily turned to the second target, just a few feet to the right of the previous one.

_"Stupefy."_ Her teacher nodded appreciatively as yet again, her spell shot straight through the bulls-eye.

The third one was in the corner, and thus a little farther away, but that would be no matter. It was an easy enough spell and big enough target that Lily remained confident.

As she began the complex wand pattern, Lily noticed sudden movement in her peripheral vision. Glancing quickly at the source even as her wand hand continued the spell, she noticed James Potter pulling out his wand.

Well, that couldn't be good. Nevertheless, she had a spell to perform and a grade to earn, and Potter's antics could surely wait a few more seconds.

"_Stupefy._" The red beam once again shot right through the target, which in turn exploded into sparking red and gold dust and smoke that quickly spread throughout the entire room.

Lily could only blink and stare in pure surprise as a figure that looked suspiciously liked James Potter – she couldn't really tell through the smoke – jumped up and shouted something. Red and green streamers promptly dropped from the sky, Christmas jingles blared, and the red and gold dust gathered on all of the students on the left side of the room – the Slytherin half.

Most of the Gryffindors, Lily and her friends included, stumbled around as they laughed, sang along, and some even draped themselves in the streamers.

The Slytherins, however, looked downright _murderous_. The glitter and dust proved nearly impossible to get off of oneself, and while the Gryffindors who had some on them didn't mind at all, the Slytherins were not about to put up with another Gryffindor prank.

Or, more specifically, a Marauder prank.

Lily now knew what James Potter had been doing earlier with his wand, and the smug grins upon his, Sirius's and Peter's faces were proof enough. Remus just looked mildly entertained by the reactions of the Slytherins.

Lily felt as though she, being Head Girl, should reprimand them, but James was Head Boy, and frankly, the school needed a little more holiday cheer. Especially the seventh years, who wouldn't be safe in their little haven of a school for much longer.

Poor Professor Winthrow was trying and failing miserably at calming down the angry Slytherins. The bloke wasn't really cut out for this type of job.

"I'm sure it will wash off, right? Just—or you can just _Scourgify_ it, Miss Selwyn, right?" he suggested to a distressed Slytherin. As her scowl deepened, the Professor just started wringing his hands nervously.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the girl the professor had been addressing. "And where's my bloody wand gone?" In the confusion, she'd dropped it, and it'd rolled all the way to the Gryffindor side of the room, only to be picked up by Sirius Black.

"Looking for this, Selwyn?" he taunted, twirling the wand in his non-dominant hand as he leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up onto the desk.

Professor Winthrow looked nervously between the two as Lily made her way back to her own desk. "Now, Mr. Black, you really shouldn't do that. Could you—if you could please, um, give Miss Selwyn her wand back? There needn't be anymore excitement this class…"

"Sure, Professor," Black drawled, and he tossed the wand across the room, causing Janice Selwyn to jump to catch it. As soon as it was back in her hands, she scowled at Black, muttered something to the girl next to her, and angrily plopped back down into her seat.

"Now, now, if the rest of you could just settle down, I would—it would be much appreciated," he pleaded, mainly addressing some of the Slytherins who were complaining to each other and him as they cleaned themselves of the horrid glitter, as well as those – mainly James Potter – who were still singling along to the carols. "And whoever did that, you—you need to stand up right now and stop that music and clean up this mess."

Unsurprisingly, the streamers and glitter remained where they were, and the carols only got louder.

Professor Winthrow sighed. "Now, I don't want to have to report this to Professors McGonagall or Slughorn or even Headmaster Dumbledore. I—I will, you know, if none of you own up! You are the oldest students here, and I certainly—I certainly expect you to behave better than the first years."

"Come on, Professor. I mean, _surely_ even this is better than what those eleven-year-olds do," Lily's friend Marlene commented.

"Well, they don't have Sirius Black and James Potter in their year, so I wouldn't be too sure about that, Lene," Lily muttered. Marlene let out an undignified snort in agreement.

"Well, I suppose I shall have to report this to your head of houses, then, if no one is willing to admit to anything…" Professor Winthrow trailed off, hoping anyone would speak up, so that he wouldn't have to ask the other teachers for help disciplining students in his own class.

No such luck.

Lily knew the perpetrators were the Marauders, but she wasn't as inclined to rat them out as she might've been two years prior. They had grown up, and their pranks were rather limited and controlled now. Besides, where was the harm in some innocent holiday fun? No one got hurt.

"Well—well, I suppose that since we only have two minutes left and the room is a mess, you may—you may just, um, talk amongst yourselves. Quietly. Yes, quietly, please. No more excitement." The Professor then hastily retreated to his office, leaving the slightly chaotic room of seventeen-year-olds behind.

Lily rounded on the Marauders, who were seated directly behind her and Marlene. They were now snickering, most likely about their newest holiday scheme and the reactions it garnered from the Slytherins and their Professor.

"Honestly, will you all still be pulling the same pranks when you're in your graves?" Lily asked, trying to come off as exasperated, but ending up sounding more amused than anything else.

The boys could tell she wasn't serious. "'Course not, Lily. Hopefully, we'd have though of better things by then," Peter joked.

Lily rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but Marlene cut her off. "Do you actually think he'll go to McGonagall? I doubt it, but he's already done it once. Remember, for your Halloween prank?"

Sirius shrugged. "Either way, it doesn't matter. He has no proof it was us, and even if we do get in trouble, who cares? What's one detention here and there?"

Lily fought to cover a smile at his devil-may-care attitude and promptly turned to Remus and Peter, inquiring as to their current holiday plans.

"I'm staying here," Remus admitted. "My parents were planning on going out of the country and they wanted me to come as well, but I think I'd rather spend this last year at the castle."

"I'm going home, though," Peter chimed in. "My cousin is getting married a couple days after Christmas, and my mother wants the entire family to be there, so I might as well just stay the entire time. That way I won't have to go back and forth to help with the preparations."

Lily nodded. The train ride home was that evening – Defense had been their last class before the holidays – but she wasn't going home, since Marlene and a couple of her friends were staying at Hogwarts, and Christmas with her father and his side of the family without her Mum just wouldn't be the same.

"I'm staying too, Lily," James added, evidently having been eavesdropping. "My parents have a bunch of Ministry matters to deal with over the hols, and there's no reason for me to go home and never see them."

Lily nodded sympathetically. 'Ministry matters' most likely had to do with the war, which Lily knew James's parents were very politically active in.

Before she had a chance to respond, however, the bell signaling the end of class rang, and the students began shoving their glitter-adorned parchment, ink, and quills back into bags.

"The holiday and Gryffindor colors were a nice touch, though," Lily commented to the boys as they, Lily, and Marlene left the class and headed for dinner.

"Yeah, we wanted to get the holiday colors in," Peter explained, "but not too much green, because, well, we also just wanted to piss of the Slytherins by covering them in Gryffindor colors."

Lily smiled. If it had been a harmful prank, she would have sided against the Marauders, but for childish fun like this, there was no point in getting worked up over nothing.

"Are we all staying here over the holidays?" asked Marlene, once the Great Hall was in sight.

"Peter isn't," Remus explained.

"Aww," Marlene complained, sidling over to Peter and throwing an arm around him. "Gonna miss you, little guy."

"He's been taller than you for the past two years, Lene," Lily pointed out.

"I know, I know, but I can't just stop calling him that. It's been his nickname since first year!" Marlene explained.

"The nickname that only you use, McKinnon," Sirius said, a smirk on his face.

Marlene pouted.

"But you never know, Lene… it might catch on during these last few months," said Lily comfortingly.

"Doubtful," James muttered.

Lily scowled at him.

"The Great Hall looks lovely as usual." Lily smiled brightly, changing the subject as they entered the lavishly decorated hall. There were several huge Christmas trees in the corners, covered in colorful ornaments, and bright lights floating around the walls. Wreaths were suspended at intervals along the walls, and the head of every house table was emptier than usual, no doubt due to the mistletoe right above.

"Let's not sit there, then," Marlene smirked, steering Peter and Lily away from the mistletoe-infested side of the table and towards the side filled with sixth and seventh years.

The rest of the Marauders followed along, and the group took a seat by Mary MacDonald, Dorcas Meadows, and Julia Peterson, the other three seventh year Gryffindor girls. Jack Fellsby, the Marauders' last roommate, was nowhere to be seen.

"Probably off with his girlfriend," James offered, also noticing the boy's absence.

Lily plopped herself down next to Marlene and Dorcas and shoveled some chicken, turkey, potatoes, and peas onto her plate. As the conversations around her turned to the last pathetic Chudley Cannons match and the upcoming Witches Wallow album, Lily was perfectly content to eat and listen. After all, these same people would be staying with her over the hols, and they'd have plenty of time to talk then.

The hungry seventh years finished their meal quickly enough and didn't notice the presence of their Head of House, Professor McGonagall, as she walked right up to them.

"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, causing said students and their friends – the ones who weren't facing her, at least – to whip their head around. "Since it seems you both are quite finished with your meal, I would like to see you in my office."

Lily jumped up immediately, but James was more hesitant. "I didn't even get to dessert yet!"

"I daresay you will have a time for dessert later, Mr. Potter, so please—my office, now." Her heels clicked against the hall as she left, clearly expecting Lily and James to follow right behind.

Lily scrambled after her, only giving her friends a quick wave goodbye, and James followed reluctantly.

The three took several sharp turns before arriving at Professor McGonagall's office, where she promptly sat down on her side of the desk and motioned for the Head Students to do the same opposite her.

"Now, as I have come to understand, there was a disturbance this morning in Professor Winthrow's class, one to which no one confessed. You are here because one rather willing Slytherin informed me that Miss Evans was the one who cast the spell that set of the initial explosion, and you, Mr. Potter, were also seen with your wand out, adding to the chaos. What have you got to say for yourselves?"

"Lily had nothing to do with it, I sw—"

"Of course I had something to do with it! I did it—"

"No, I did—"

"C'mon, Potter, you did noth—"

"What do you mean? Of course it was me! Why—"

"Oh, as if you—"

"What are you talking—"

"Enough! Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, I expect much better behavior from our two Head Students! And as it seems the two of you can't decide who had a hand in it, it have no choice but to give you both detention!"

"What?" James exclaimed. "Professor—"

"That's quite enough, James. Don't worry, I will not have you scrubbing trophies or working for Hagrid. Since you two seem to have quite the excess of holiday spirit, you will be delivering Christmas presents to all remaining students in Gryffindor tower tomorrow night."

James and Lily were stunned into silence. The Professor took that as her cue to continue. "This will not be an impossible task, as many of the students are returning home for the holidays. Apart from yourselves and your fellow seventh years, there are only about two dozen students staying back in Gryffindor. Usually the house elves take care of delivering all the presents, but I am sure they will be fine only delivering the gifts for the other houses this year. Miss Evans can either deliver all the girls' presents alone, or I daresay you can find a way up the girls' staircase, Mr. Potter. All the presents will be addressed to the receiver and sitting in the Great Hall at ten o'clock on Christmas Eve night."

James, who had initially been rather shocked, started to grin. "So… we're like elves? As in Santa's little helper elves?"

McGonagall nodded curtly. "And I expect you to take it seriously, especially with the younger students, who may still believe in Santa. Are we clear?"

"Absolutely, Professor." Lily smiled. "Is that all?"

"One last thing, Miss Evans, before you two leave. Though I cannot condone your actions during class, I would like to commend you on having such spirit in times like these. That positivity is much more special than I believe either of you realize. That is all. You may go."

The Head Students recognized a dismissal when they saw one.

They exited the room in silence, still processing their 'punishment.'

"It was nice of her to let us off the hook like that," Lily admitted, as they headed back toward the seventh floor common room.

"Nice? You didn't do anything!" James exploded. "It was all me and Remus and Pete and Sirius! Why'd you tell her it was your fault?"

Lily rounded on him. "Oh, we both know she goes easier on you when she thinks I'm involved! Don't act like you're not grateful."

James just scowled, but she could tell he wasn't really angry and in a couple hours, he'd be fine.

"I'll see you tomorrow night, then, I suppose," he said gruffly.

* * *

"Lily, don't you have detention in five minutes? Why do you look so happy?" Dorcas questioned, looking up from her magazine at the excited redhead.

"Please, Dorcas, why would I be happy for detention?" Lily asked, struggling to get her right boot on.

"Lily, Lily, silly Lily, we all know the real reason you're happy isn't detention, but who you're serving detention _with_." Mary commented from her perch on the dresser. She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows around suggestively as Dorcas let out an undignified snort.

Lily scowled, but still couldn't stop her ears from turning red. The other girls present – just Dorcas and Mary – giggled.

"Hush up, you two. Where are Julia and Lene, anyway?" Lily questioned as she finally got her second boot on and stood up.

"Hm?" Dorcas had once again gotten distracted by the latest edition of _Witch Weekly._ "Oh, Lene's hanging out with Francis and Lizzy from Hufflepuff, and Julia… I think she said she was owling her brother a Christmas present."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm off. See you guys tomorrow morning!" Lily smiled and turned toward the door.

"Oh, you're going to be out all night?" A wicked smirk crossed Mary's face.

"You hush, it's not like that. McGonagall just has us doing something that'll probably last until after midnight, and I don't want to wake you when I return."

"Sure, sure, sure," Mary said sarcastically. "Anyways, what is she going to have you do all night Christmas Eve? Surely there's another time for you two to serve detention…"

"Oh, I don't mind," said Lily. "And, you know… it's just the usual detention stuff." She'd tell them about it afterwards.

"Well, have fun!" Mary sang as Lily made her way out of the room. "And tell us all about Potter tomorrow!"

"Promise," Lily said solemnly.

"Bye, Lil," Dorcas said absentmindedly from her bed.

"See you later, Dory," Lily scampered down the girls' staircase before her friend could call her out on the hated nickname.

Knowing she was late, Lily didn't stop running until she crashed into one James Potter right outside of the portrait hole.

"Whoa, Evans, calm down. I mean, I know you can't resist this, but no need to actually jump me!" The infuriating smirk was still on his face.

"Please, Potter, everyone can resist _that,_" she said, pointedly looking him up and down and scoffing.

"As if." He threw an arm around her shoulders as they headed to detention.

"Gross. Get it off." She attempted to squirm out from under his arm, pulling her face into a disgusted grimace.

"Nope." He held her closer.

Lily unconsciously shivered at his contact. And there it was – that feeling again. The warm one that started from his touch, and spread through her chest and made every fiber in her body scream for her to get closer, get closer and never let go.

But she was a stubborn one, and she didn't need a man in her life.

She ignored the feeling and ducked out from under his arm.

James pretended not to notice and ran his hand through his hair – something she assumed was a nervous habit.

"Admit it," she said, trying to ease some of the tension. "This is going to be the best detention ever. I can feel it."

"Please, Evans, you've served detention, what, three times? Four, maybe? I've had much, much more, and it'll take a lot for this to top those."

"You'll see." She smiled. "This'll be the best, I promise."

James scoffed but smiled nevertheless, but the expression dropped off of his face as they entered the Great Hall. "Merlin, that's—"

"Fantastic! This is going to be so much fun!" Lily could feel James's stare on her as she ran amid the presents. There were four huge stacks, one by each house table, comprised of anything and everything from simple letters to large parcels. The one by Gryffindor table was presumably the stack that they would be in charge of.

"There's about a hundred, Lil! This is going to take forever! If there's only thirty kids staying back in Gryffindor, why are there so many presents? I thought we could drop a couple presents in each dorm room and be done in half an hour or less!"

"Of course there's going to be so many! I mean, some kids won't get any at all, but then we have people like you, who probably have a dozen. It won't be so bad! Let's start now—the sooner we begin, the sooner we end."

After a quick swish and flick, she had half the Gryffindor presents floating five feet off the ground, leaving James no choice but to do the same.

"Do your friends know what you're up to?" James asked, exiting the Great Hall with her.

"They know I'm serving detention right now, if that's what you mean." They ascended the grand flight of stairs in the entrance hall.

"I mean do they know what your detention is?" He pressed, casually jumping over the trick step.

She shrugged. "No."

James looked at her curiously. "Why didn't you tell them?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's no big deal, James. I'll tell them tomorrow morning—I just thought it could be a sort of surprise."

He considered it. "I suppose… I told the boys, though. Sorry."

Lily stared at him, coming to a halt in the middle of the hallway. "Why are you apologizing? It wasn't supposed to be a—a secret or anything like that."

"You know, I just—" He ran his hand through his hair. "Never mind. Forget it."

"Huh." Lily decided to drop the matter and continued walking. He was acting very strange tonight. "I think we should star with the first years. They'll probably go to sleep first. I know for a fact none of my roommates will be asleep within the next hour."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" James asked. "Creep outside the older kids' dorms until they go to sleep? That could be hours from now!"

"But we can't just drop off the presents when they're awake!" Lily protested.

"Why not?"

"Because—because that's like ruining Christmas!"

"So? They already know Santa's not real."

"Yes, of course, but it's still magical—waking up in the morning to find all your presents sitting at the foot of the bed.. It doesn't matter how old you are!"

"So it's okay to ruin or Christmas by delivering our own presents?" James retorted.

"Are you kidding?" Lily turned to him as they arrived at the seventh floor. "This isn't ruining our Christmas; it's amazing—we get to act like Santa and his elves for a night!"

James laughed. "Can I be Santa and you be the elf?"

"Who says I can't be Santa?" They were slowing to a stop and lowering their voices as they approached the common room entrance.

"I think you'd be cuter as the elf," James said thoughtfully, staring at her.

Lily felt her entire face heat up.

"No, I'm serious! Look!" He flicked his wand and muttered something and Lily nearly dropped all the gifts in surprise as she looked down at her outfit.

The same black shoes, paired with knee-high red boots, a green skirt coming down to mid thigh, a green and red blouse, and a stereotypical Santa hat.

She laughed. James was staring, as if he hadn't realized what he'd done until he'd done it.

"Well—er, we should go in now, right?" He was still staring. "Do you want me to, um—change you back?"

Lily laughed again. "No, I kind of like it. I'll keep it until we're done."

They crept into the common room and up the stairs to the first year boys' dorm first. Poking her head inside, Lily saw they were all fast asleep. "You got their presents?" she whispered back to James.

"Yeah, here." He handed her half a dozen presents for the two kids inside. She tiptoed inside and put the gifts by the receiver's bedside.

"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed, tripping over a stray textbook by the door.

"Shh!" she whispered furiously.

One of the boys stirred. Both teenagers froze.

Lily caught James's panicked gaze.

The boy rubbed his eyes, sitting up. "Santa… is that you?"

Lily's eyes widened. Quick as lightning, she flicked her wand at James and muttered a spell under her breath, much as he had done before, before diving behind the nearest bed. Poking her head around the bedpost, she saw James, now decked out in a white beard and Santa costume, attempting to make the boy go back to sleep.

"Uh, ho ho ho! Now, go back to sleep or no presents for you!" James smiled weakly, keeping his hands in front of him in what could be interpreted as a placating gesture.

"Oh, sorry! Of course—um, th—thank you, Santa! I knew you were real!" The boy immediately rolled over and under the covers, squeezing his eyes shut.

Lily grinned and jumped up from her hiding place, grabbing James's hand as they fled the room silently.

* * *

The next mishap occurred at the seventh year boys' dorm.

All its occupants were still awake.

"Lily?" Jack Fellsby asked incredulously as the two Head Students made their way into the dormitory. "What are you—it's past midnight! What are you doing up here? And what are you wearing?" He hastily pulled the covers up to cover his bare chest.

Lily smiled nervously. "Er, you see—"

"Happy Christmas, Prongs, Evans," Sirius Black grinned from the comfort of his four-poster bed. "You know this looks very suspicious—two strangely dressed teenagers looking slightly disheveled and sneaking into a dorm in the wee hours of the morning; you know, some might—"

"Shut it, Black, you know very well what we're doing," Lily huffed, dropping several parcels and envelopes by each bed.

"What are you wearing, Lily?" Remus asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes to keep awake.

Lily blushed. "Well, it's his fault—"

"Looking fit, by the way, Evans. And why are you dressed as Santa, Prongs?" questioned Sirius.

"Now that's _her_ fault—" James started from his position rummaging through his presents, only to be interrupted by Black, who apparently was interested enough to ask the question but not to hear the answer.

"Is this your last stop, Mr. Claus? You done yet?"

After dropping the last gift off by Jack's, Lily ambled over to James and replied for him: "No, we've got the girls' side left. You can wait until morning to open those, James, come on."

"Wait, Lil, you got me something?"

"Yes, and you can see what it is later. Let's go. I'm tired."

"Ooh, no, I want to open it now. What is it?"

"I'm not tell—"

"Wait, Prongs, you're going up to the girls' side?" Black asked.

Both Lily and James turned to face him, surprised to be interrupted from their own little world.

"Yes, he is, because I am not doing it on my own, and no, you may not come, Black," Lily rolled her eyes before turning back to James.

Sirius faked a pout. "How do you know I wasn't just asking out of curiosity?"

James laughed. "Mate, a first year would know you weren't 'just asking out of curiosity.'"

Sirius shrugged. "Fair enough. Well, you two scoundrels better get going. Don't tire him out too much, Evans."

"Shut up, Black. Night, Remus…Fellsby."

"Night, Evans. Don't do anything too naughty, Prongs."

"I'm ignoring that, Padfoot. Night, Remus, Jack."

"Night, Lily! See you later, Prongs, and yes, ignore Sirius."

"Bye, Lily. Later, Potter."

"That took a while," Lily sighed. "And we still have the entire girls' side to do."

The girls' side didn't end up taking long. After James summoned his broomstick to fly up the stairs, the entire affair took about half an hour. It was much shorter than the boys' side, since it was later and more people were already asleep.

Finally, at one in the morning on Christmas, Lily and James had finished the seventh year girls' dorm.

They crept out so as to not wake Lily's roommates.

"I see you got me a gift as well, James." She was referring to the small red box he'd placed by her bed.

He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, suddenly jittery. "It's just… a little something I found a couple of weeks ago. I though you might like it. I didn't really know what to get you."

"I'm sure I'll love whatever it is, and I wasn't sure what to get you, either."

"Well, you could…" he trailed off, messing his hair up again.

"Could what?" Lily pressed.

"You could… get me out of this Santa suit. I mean, it was nice at first, but now the beard's getting a little scratchy, and I can't see my feet properly with the fake fat stomach."

Lily smiled. "Coming right up." A complicated wand pattern and a few whispered words brought James's trousers and t-shirt back, and the suit and beard disappeared.

"Do you want me to change you back too?" he asked, gesturing to her Santa's elf costume.

Lily shrugged. "It's fine. I kind of like it. I'll just change it back later."

"I…I like it too. The—the elf costume, I mean. It's…uh, it's nice."

"You know, I don't believe I've seen you this flustered in a while, James. It's very refreshing." Lily, however, was nervous as well. Was she shaking? It seemed like she was. He was just right there, and – getting closer?

He was nice and sweet and kind and charming and funny and smart and brave and everything and everything Lily wanted in a boyfriend.

But she didn't need a man in her life.

"I know something else you could get me, since you're not so sure of the one you already bought." The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.

A smile tugged at James's lips. "What's that?"

Lily pushed herself onto her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He rested his palms on her waist and pulled her closer.

His breath was hot on her face. Everything was so warm and so right.

"I think you know."

Ever so slowly, he moved his lips closer, and ever so slowly, Lily and James kissed for the first time.

It was slightly cautious and a little sloppy, but their lips moved together and their bodies fit, and she threaded her hands through his hair and pulled him impossibly closer.

He backed her against the door, and she dropped onto her heels again and leaned her forehead against his shoulder.

He kissed the top of her head and the tension drained from her body. She could imagine the smile on his face – it would match the one on hers.

So maybe Lily Evans didn't need a man in her life.

But then again, what you need isn't always the same as what you want.

* * *

**Happy Holidays! Hope you liked it. :)  
**


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